In the recent years another confusing idea was posed by Sankaran in his book The Spirit of Homeopathy.

SITUATIONAL MATERIA MEDICA

The question is: Whether a particular "situation" could create a group of symptoms that point out to a specific remedy.

The author seems to have arrived to a positive conclusion that it was really the situation mainly responsible for creating a specific symptomatology and so a new type of homeopathic materia medica was created. The situational Materia medica!

This is considered by some homeopaths to be an innovative idea of the recent months!

It is really a wonder how this author has arrived in to such a conclusion as everybody else knew until today that it is really the miasmatic background of the patient, his susceptibility and subsequent predisposition that determines the manifestation of one or another type of symptomatology.

Theoretically at least for each situational stress we have many different syndromes -group of symptoms- pointing to different remedies. This is the whole idea in classical homeopathy, the essence of homeopathic prescribing, which lies in individualizing every case independent of the situation, whether the stress is pathological mental or emotional

If we accept the theory that every time a situation can create a specific host of symptoms of a particular remedy then the essence of the ideas of Hahneman are gone and we are approaching again the allopathic way of thinking, where it says that for a specific pathogen we have always a specific pathology. If we accept such ideas then while our work will appear to be entering a huge easy open door our work will seem to becomes very simplified and classical homeopathy to You just need to know the situation on which you found yourself on this or on a previous life and the remedy will be apparent!!

If you found yourself in a previous life enclosed on the ruins of an earth quake then your remedy most probably is Arnica because of the memory of the bruises you received in spite of the fact that your resent symptomatology may point out to Palladium or Coralium rubrum.

If you were persecuted in one of your previous lives by enemies then this particular memory is really overwhelming you in this life and your remedy most probably is kali-bromatum.

This particular teacher warns his foollowers of course to be careful and not to take seriously and for granted all this but his followers really do in spite of the warning.

But the fact that he gives a new materia medica in his book the spirit of homeopathy shows that he himself is taking his ideas seriously and of course misguiding innocent and naive students who have just come to homeopathy.

But we al know that a situation, a grief for instance can create symptomatology of a host of remedies- we know at least sixty remedies that are indicated for this situation - which one should one prescribe according to the theory of this very good teacher?

Don't we have to still choose according to the totality of the symptoms?

But even that a situation may really create a symptomatology it is not the real situation that is always responsible for it.

Many times an imaginary fear can create it as well. The real situation of poverty seldom if ever creates the "fear of poverty" On the contrary we see it more frequently in affluent people of the west and sometime in the very rich ones.

The examples could be unlimited as well the wrong type of ambition to excel!!.